For the past several Easters, my tradition has been to make Easter dresses from the stockpile of material and yarn I have lying around. You can see my work from 2011 here. This year, I modified the tradition slightly by purchasing material.

We were shopping at our local Wal-Mart a few months back and I noticed they re-opened a crafting/fabric section that had previously been closed. There was a large table with $5 bolts of fabric on it. Most of them were outdoor types of fabrics. I didn’t really need outdoor fabric but I peeked through the stack anyway and came across a beautiful, shimmery material in a bluish grayish tint. I wasn’t sure what type of fabric it was and the label only indicated it was “various blends.” “This is a gorgeous color!” I thought. “It would make a great dress.” Thus, the idea was born.

Originally, I wanted to make Christmas dresses but Christmas was just too busy for sewing. In a rush, though, I did manage to squeak out the skirt portion of the dresses. My daughters wore the skirts to the Nutcracker along with their leotards, tights and wrap sweater warm-up tops. It was perfect for the ballet.

When Easter rolled around, I was again short on time so I needed a way to quickly finish the dresses, preferably in a way that didn’t involve sewing buttons or zippers. I invented a quick halter-style pattern with long ties and they finished in just a few hours. I added on a little bling from a small piece of beaded trim, again from Wal-Mart!

My daughters tried them on and thought they were fun but had to add their own style to them too!

“Where is the flower?” my older daughter asked.

I explained that there wasn’t a flower. It just had the sparkly trim.

“It needs a flower,” she informed me. Then she found a hair clip her chic aunt sent her that is made out of a Tab soda pop can. She clipped it onto the neckline of her dress and it was fantastic! Plus, the fact that it just clipped on instead of pinned on meant that it didn’t poke any holes in the fabric.

Then my younger daughter wanted one too so we found another flower hair clip sent from another wonderful aunt.

Voila! The finished dresses, which remind me a little of Betty Draper from Mad Men.

My son had an outfit too that I didn’t make but purchased. His outfit will be featured in an upcoming post.

While my design suffers a bit in the fit department, I am pleased with the overall look and for about $5 a dress in materials, it’s great for the pocketbook too!

Any Easter fashions or fashion tips to share? Please let loose in the comments.

*I have no affiliation with Wal-Mart other than being an avid shopper.